The present invention relates to making a blade fiber preform having at least one platform, in particular for fabricating a turbine engine blade out of composite material.
Proposals have already been made to make blades out of composite material for turbine engines. By way of example, reference may be made to document EP 1 526 285, which describes fabricating a fan blade by making a fiber preform by three-dimensional weaving and densifying the preform with an organic matrix.
Furthermore, a turbine engine fan includes platforms that are arranged between the blades in order to define the inside of the annular air inlet passage into the fan, this passage being defined on the outside by a casing. These platforms may be added separately or they may be incorporated directly with the bases of the fan blades, between their airfoils and the tangs that extend their roots. The invention relates more particularly to blades forming part of the second category, i.e. blades having one or more platforms integrated therewith.